Player Contract Status

[soupman]

Was genuinely really good as a defender in 2021 until an atrocious performance in the GF (maybe worst on ground?) and has looked shy of confidence ever since and had to shuffle through roles in the side.

I'd try and work him into our midfield mix as well, I think we need a freshen up in there and his ability to move in traffic plus a lovely piercing kick could be something different. He's been ok on the wing but I don't think wed be losing a lot.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Was genuinely really good as a defender in 2021 until an atrocious performance in the GF (maybe worst on ground?) and has looked shy of confidence ever since and had to shuffle through roles in the side.

I'd try and work him into our midfield mix as well, I think we need a freshen up in there and his ability to move in traffic plus a lovely piercing kick could be something different. He's been ok on the wing but I don't think wed be losing a lot.

Couldn’t we use him in as mid and have a rotation with Adz on the wing. Maybe 80/20. I’d prefer Williams in the centre bounce over both Daniel or Weightman. The other is Libba swap with a West as an 80/20. We need to be blooding the next generation and Libba could play forward

[Grantysghost]

I agree, Am happy with a 4 year deal. Whilst he may not be the inside Mid he was recruited to be I think he is a really good option as a winger. We looked much better with him and Poulter/Baker on the wings. He's a long, accurate kick, good pair of hands and has nice evasive skills. We can look to shorter deals when he is 29 or so.

I think Baker is as good at this point have to say. I don't think guys like Williams are that hard to find.

Hopefully he gets back to his best and cracks the top ten of the B and F.

[GVGjr]

I agree, Am happy with a 4 year deal. Whilst he may not be the inside Mid he was recruited to be I think he is a really good option as a winger. We looked much better with him and Poulter/Baker on the wings. He's a long, accurate kick, good pair of hands and has nice evasive skills. We can look to shorter deals when he is 29 or so.

I don't think we recruited him as an inside mid and he has been shuffled around in a few positions. He's performed pretty well in whatever role he has been given but I'm not seeing the level of performance in what he has delivered so far that warrants this sort of commitment back to him.
The 4 year deal is not that much of an issue but I'm surprised that we made that commitment.

[ledge]

I guess it depends on what he accepted money wise too .
He isn’t injury prone and I think we as fans under rate him a little .
If he accepted say 300 to 400k a year that’s only just over a million for 4 years . Cheap as chips for a bloke coming into his best years .

[The Bulldogs Bite]

4 years is way too much.

We've given 5 years to the likes of JJ, Hunter and Macrae and I'd argue none of them worked out despite the fact all 3 are very good players and performed above and over what Williams has produced.

It really should have been 2, perhaps a trigger for 3. Axe would be on the money in terms of it being spread over 4 years, but that's a long commitment for a player who is ranked 15-22.

I don't mind the idea of him playing midfield to change up our dynamic, but his decision making isn't as quick as it needs to be. You can't 'sell' candy every time you get the footy. I'd rather we put him back to where he actually played his best footy as a half back.

[ledge]

4 years is way too much.

We've given 5 years to the likes of JJ, Hunter and Macrae and I'd argue none of them worked out despite the fact all 3 are very good players and performed above and over what Williams has produced.

It really should have been 2, perhaps a trigger for 3. Axe would be on the money in terms of it being spread over 4 years, but that's a long commitment for a player who is ranked 15-22.

I don't mind the idea of him playing midfield to change up our dynamic, but his decision making isn't as quick as it needs to be. You can't 'sell' candy every time you get the footy. I'd rather we put him back to where he actually played his best footy as a half back.

Don’t get me wrong I personally would have offered two.
But we don’t know the details of the contract.
Maybe he is going back to his best position, whatever the reason the club obviously see him better than we do.

[ledge]

I also find it strange we complain about our list having fringe players who aren’t good enough . Well the only way to keep your bottom players who are good enough is to put them on long deals.
Williams isn’t a fringe player but is a good player to lock in and now we aren’t having to deal with losing him every year.
We now know his worth and can now look at keeping fringe players who are good enough.
It Also means if a club is interested in him they will have to pay overs to get him .

[Sedat]

Sedat, have you met our match committee?

I know, but I'm fully expecting changes to be made in match committee personnel, game plan and player roles - you simply cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, especially when your best player (and the best in the entire competition) just had a career year, as did your best inside mid and no 1 ruckman. And despite all that, we missed finals and scraped into 8th position 12 months earlier - that is a plenty big enough sample size to know the game plan needs an overhaul, as does match committee, as do player roles in the team.

I'm sure Bains and Grant fully understand this. And deep down I'm sure Bevo does as well, otherwise he will be borderline unemployable as a senior coach in 12-24 months time.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I know, but I'm fully expecting changes to be made in match committee personnel, game plan and player roles - you simply cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, especially when your best player (and the best in the entire competition) just had a career year, as did your best inside mid and no 1 ruckman. And despite all that, we missed finals and scraped into 8th position 12 months earlier - that is a plenty big enough sample size to know the game plan needs an overhaul, as does match committee, as do player roles in the team.

I'm sure Bains and Grant fully understand this. And deep down I'm sure Bevo does as well, otherwise he will be borderline unemployable as a senior coach in 12-24 months time.

Do you actually have faith Sedat that Bains and Grant understand this? A lot of us on here saw this early last year yet somehow those in charge didn't think anything needed changing.

[Sedat]

Do you actually have faith Sedat that Baines and Grant understand this? A lot of us on here saw this early last year yet somehow those in charge didn't think anything needed changing.

Ultimately I'm glass half-full and you've got to have faith that your leaders are competent enough to read the room and understand what is required (Bevo included).

If Bains/Grant think that a couple of minor tweaks is all we need because we were "so unlucky in several close games" in 2023, we deserve all the ridicule we will inevitably get. I do think the messaging has been different this off-season compared to 12 months ago - although the proof will be in the actions/outcomes and not the words.

[Danjul]

I agree, Am happy with a 4 year deal. Whilst he may not be the inside Mid he was recruited to be I think he is a really good option as a winger. We looked much better with him and Poulter/Baker on the wings. He's a long, accurate kick, good pair of hands and has nice evasive skills. We can look to shorter deals when he is 29 or so.

I believe that the game plan needs to be redesigned to build on the players talents, and he is one of the players where this has not happened. When he get a chance he is very damaging, but too often we deliberately bottle up play against the boundary and players can?t get out. Both Poulter and Baker also seem to understand how space is critical to forward movement.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I do hope we review what gameplan changes we made during last off-season that were subsequently thrown out the window 2 games into a disastrous start to the season.

[Danjul]

I think Baker is as good at this point have to say. I don't think guys like Williams are that hard to find.

Hopefully he gets back to his best and cracks the top ten of the B and F.

I have watched Baker closely and it is obvious that he is bringing Melbourne?s use of space with him. I have seen him make position to quickly launch into the forward area only to be ignored in favour of the long bomb.

Against Essendon he brought the ball around the boundary and gave a nice pass to Khamis, who passed to Weightman for a goal. Quick movement that generates team results.

He also got one of his own later. I found it interesting that he was subbed off early and then dropped from the team.

[mjp]

I have watched Baker closely and it is obvious that he is bringing Melbourne?s use of space with him.

Baker understands space.

I'm not sure if it's a Melbourne thing or Melbourne recruiters identify players who understand it.